Wilmer Flores Again Shows Flair for Theater in Comeback Victory

Daniel Murphy (28) skipped into the dugout Friday night after hitting a solo home run against the Rays in the eighth inning, tying the score at 2.CreditBrian Blanco/Getty Images

By Rob Harms

Aug. 7, 2015

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The rookie and the folk hero are from different countries, speak different first languages and stood on opposite sides of the clubhouse on Friday. One is an outfielder; the other plays the infield. One just completed his third series in the major leagues; the other is playing in his third season.

Together, Michael Conforto, the rookie, and Wilmer Flores, the folk hero, powered the Mets to their seventh straight win — a 4-3 comeback victory over the Rays on Friday at Tropicana Field — that pushed their lead in the National League East over the Washington Nationals to two and a half games. It was the first time in Mets history that they had overcome deficits in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

“What a game,” the bullpen coach Ricky Bones said. “What a game.”

He was standing a few feet away from Flores, who added to his growing legend. Ten days ago came the in-game tears after Flores thought he had been traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. Two days later, a cathartic game-ending home run in the 12th inning.

Next came the key hits and smooth defensive plays, most of them preceded or followed by standing ovations from Mets fans who were slowly realizing what they had come so close to losing.

On Friday, Flores — a young infielder with a newly found flair for the dramatic — hit an opposite-field single to drive in the winning run.

“Anytime you can help, it’s a good feeling,” Flores said, typically understated.

Conforto, who had doubled three batters earlier for the biggest hit of his nine-game career, scored the winning run on Flores’s single.

“I really wanted to give us a chance,” Conforto said.

For Flores, who was 2 for 4, perhaps it was payback. He was robbed of home run in the sixth inning, when he hit a 2-2 splitter from Rays starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi into left field.

Grady Sizemore, who launched a solo home run two innings earlier to give the Rays a 1-0 lead, tracked the ball toward the short left-field corner and stuck out his glove in front of the fans who were sitting there. Nearly horizontal, Sizemore caught the ball and fell backward into the dirt. Todd Tichenor, the third-base umpire, ran toward the scene of the catch, watched for a few seconds and gave the signal: out.

The crowd erupted as Odorizzi threw up his hands in wonder, then plopped them on top of his head in disbelief. Sizemore had preserved the Rays’ lead.

“I mean,” Flores said, “what can I do?”

One inning later, however, Juan Uribe crushed a smooth-swinging home run to tie the score. Sizemore could only watch as the ball sailed well over his head and deep into the stands.

The festival of solo home runs was only beginning.

In the eighth, with the Mets down to their last strike of the inning, reliever Jake McGee threw a 96-mile-per-hour fastball to Daniel Murphy. Murphy launched the pitch to right field, smiling as it left the bat. He knew the result — a solo, game-tying home run — and skipped into the dugout, nodding his head and pumping up his teammates.

The Mets’ celebration was short-lived. In the bottom of the inning, Evan Longoria hit reliever Tyler Clippard’s 1-1 fastball to deep center field. It cleared the wall for the game’s fifth solo home run, and the Rays regained the lead.

Until the ninth. The Mets conquered a lead for the third time in three innings. “We’re never out of a game,” Jacob deGrom said.

DeGrom — who grew up in DeLand, Fla., and played in front of several family members — gave up two solo home runs in six and two-thirds innings. He struck out seven.

But deGrom, who entered the game with a 1.47 E.R.A. in his last 13 starts and has not lost a game since July 2, was frustrated at times. He was consistently concerned with his pitch count, he said, and let the ball in the middle of the plate too many times.

Rays first baseman James Loney blasted a 1-1 fastball into the right-field stands for the Rays’ second homer of the game. DeGrom, who punched a water cooler earlier this season after a poor start, was relieved three batters later.

“I was trying to go inside, and it ran back in the middle,” he said. “It’s one pitch I wish I could have back.”

For many games earlier this season, two runs would have seemed like an insurmountable obstacle for the Mets’ offense. But that was before the sudden emergence of Flores, and the rise of Conforto.

“There’s no difference,” Flores said. “I’m the same guy, playing baseball.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D5 of the New York edition with the headline: Flores Again Shows Flair for Theater in Comeback Victory. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe